In focus

Every year, the Museum of Australian Democracy asks a guest curator to select a series of cartoons addressing a topical issue in Australian politics. This year, Dr Anne Summers AO has selected and responded to historical and contemporary cartoons that detail the causes and consequences of domestic violence.

Much as many might like to do so, it is impossible to escape the crisis of domestic violence that is engulfing Australia: more than 70 women murdered so far this year, countless others dead to suicide and thousands injured physically, emotionally, sexually, their lives controlled or ruined by cruel and manipulative partners.

Not a usual subject for cartoonists, perhaps, but our finest have used their forensic artistry to reflect on this grim reality. All the cartoonists featured here show themselves to be sensitive and sympathetic to the issues raised this topic — less because they are politically correct than because they are astute commentators on a horrifying new national reality.

Anne Summers

Summers is a journalist, editor, publisher, author and groundbreaking Australian feminist. She helped set up Australia's first women's refuge, Elsie, in 1974; has written nine books, including the landmark Damned Whores and God's Police: The Colonization of Women in Australia (1975); headed up the Office of the Status of Women in the 1980s; and advised Prime Minister Paul Keating on women's issues. In 2017 she was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame. She is currently Professor of Domestic and Family Violence at the Business School, University of Technology Sydney.